Title page for ETD etd-11182010-130411

Cooking Times and Temperatures for Safe Consumption of Louisiana Blue Crabs (Callinectes sapidus)

Degree

Master of Science (M.S.)

Department

Food Science

Advisory Committee

Advisor Name

Title

Janes, Marlene E.

Committee Chair

Ge, Beilei

Committee Member

Lampila, Lucina E.

Committee Member

Keywords

food microbiology

food safety

blue crabs

Date of Defense

2010-11-09

Availability

unrestricted

Abstract

While all seafood has the potential of being associated with foodborne illness, Louisiana blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) are exposed to Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio vulnificus, Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella species in the estuarine habitat. This study was designed to determine the least amount of time and temperature needed to reduce or eliminate each of the aforementioned bacteria from a single Louisiana blue crab with either boiling or steaming heat treatments. Once the single crab heat treatment studies were completed, the bacteria that showed the greatest thermal resistance, Listeria monocytogenes, and the bacteria most associated with foodborne illness in Louisiana blue crabs, Vibrio parahaemolyticus were inoculated into a serving size of crabs and subjected to heat treatments. The results were based on the amount of bacterial log reduction of each heat treatment time point. Results of the heat treatment experiments were: boil one crab four minutes and cool one additional minute for an internal temperature of at least 79.5° C and a total cooking time of five minutes; steam one crab for five minutes cool two additional minutes for an internal temperature of at least 57° C and a total cooking time of seven minutes; boil four crabs for 10 minutes and cool five additional minutes for an internal temperature of at least 85° C and a total cooking time of 15 minutes; steam four crabs for 15 minutes and cool five additional minutes to reach an internal temperature of at least 85° C with a total cooking time of 20 minutes.